No. 2 NC State wrestling traveled to West Point to take on Army. While NC State dropped two of its early matches, the Pack ultimately prevailed and recorded three major decisions to win the evening 34-6.
The Pack (5-0) welcomed Army (0-2) to Raleigh in January of 2023 where NC State took care of business, winning 34-6 while dropping two of its matches in the 125 and 174-pound weight classes. Prior to this, the two hadn’t met in the regular season since 2015, where again, the red-and-white took down Army. This win gives NC State the largest margin of victory over Army since the two teams have been competing.
No. 9 junior Ed Scott led off for NC State in the 157-lb weight class. Scott prevented his opponent from taking advantage of a late push in the match and won off a regular decision, 14-8. Scott is now 2-1 in his duels this season.
In the 165-lb weight class, sophomore AJ Kovacs had one of the longest matches of the night. Kovacs’ match went into a sudden-victory round after a stalemate through the first and a tied score through the second and third rounds. With about 30 seconds left, Kovacs lost in a regular decision, 1-4.
Senior Alex Faison also had a relatively slow match. While the 174-lb match didn’t go into sudden victory, Faison dealt with an early stalemate and lots of stopping due to blood on the mat. Faison ultimately lost 2-4 by a regular decision.
After two consecutive dropped matches, the Pack looked to get back on top, and No. 29 redshirt freshman Dylan Fishback was up for the task. Fishback took an early lead in the 184-lb match against an Army senior. He took the match in a major decision, 15-7, putting NC State back ahead of Army in the team scores, 7-6.
No. 5 redshirt senior Trent Hidlay took over in the 197-lb weight class. Hidlay hasn’t dropped a match yet this year and easily dominated with 12 points in the first round and won by fall in 4:31. No. 12 redshirt junior Owen Trephan represented the Pack in the 285-lb match against an Army freshman. Trephan didn’t take long to assert himself on the mat, taking his opponent down by a major decision, 17-4.
No. 3 redshirt junior Jakob Camacho had a slow start to the 125-lb match, and while he didn’t take the first point, he overtook his opponent. Camacho won on another major decision for the Pack, 9-1. Redshirt senior Jarrett Trombley stepped into the 133-lb match in place of No. 6 redshirt junior Kai Orine and took an early lead but after two challenges from the Army coach, Trombley barely squeaked by with a win, 7-6.
By this point, NC State knew it was going to take home a win against Army. No. 7 Junior Ryan Jack didn’t seem to catch the memo as he took an early lead and was up by 11 through the end of the second round. Jack won the 141-lb match by a tech fall in 5:55, 19-4, smashing his opponent. No. 6 sophomore Jackson Arrington recorded a second tech fall in the 149-lb match. Arrington took down his Army opponent in 4:35 by 17-2.
Wolfpack wrestling will be back in action tomorrow, Nov. 17, and Nov. 18 for Arm Bar at the Armory in Albany, New York. The squad will face off against Binghamton on the 17th and Sacred Heart on the 18th.
